With the Nov. 7 general election resulting in a runoff for Russellville mayor, voters will be given a second chance to cast their vote for leader of the city on Tuesday.

In keeping with the theme of second chances, The Courier wanted to give the runoff candidates another opportunity to voice their views and policies, and therefore give readers a second chance to decide who they think is most capable to run the city.

On Nov. 21, The Courier invited candidates David Lee and Tyrone Williamson to a sit-down debate at our offices. The moderators were Courier reporters Brooke Vermillion-Chambers and Janie Ginocchio, with Courier publisher Neal Ronquist, advertising director Michelle Harris and production coordinator Janine Dodd in attendance.

All questions were thoughtfully prepared in advance by the editors and reporters, but the candidates were not told what they would be.

Note: Although The Courier strives to present the debate as it took place, some responses have been edited for clarity and space.

David Lee's reponses

What would be your priority as mayor when dealing with drugs and crime within the city, prevention or detection and apprehension?

Presently, the city of Russellville does not have a drug task force. One of the things I would want to do is to establish a drug task force, with possibly two people. That would be their area of expertise. Up to this point the only drug apprehension they have had has been due to traffic stops and that sort of thing. I want to concentrate on drugs itself.

How are you more qualified than the professionals and elected officials who are in positions currently leading the city?

I started working with people and had people working under me at a very early age. I have either been self-employed or have worked in multi-million dollar corporations all of my life and I am familiar with budgets, making payrolls, and making sure the money is in the bank that will cover the check for the payroll. I have a proven track record of my abilities to perform.

Do you feel your police and fire departments are properly manned? If not, how would you fund an increase in personnel?

If we continue to grow, we'll have to add employees in the fire department, the police department and in every department, but we do have to have the money in order to be able to pay these extra people and to give them sufficient salaries. The way that I would do it is first of all, I would simplify the permit process. In order to help attract businesses to our city, we've got to simplify that process to where we can have businesses come to our city where our people will have places to spend their money.

What is your current understanding of city financing and operations?

Our city income primarily consists of sales tax, and state turnbacks. In order to continue to have a growth we want to increase our income through having more businesses in our town. We have a $9.5 to $10 million budget, and when you have that amount of income, you have got to have proper leadership to handle that amount of money. I have realized that to do any job well, you've got to concentrate on one job and one job only.

What are your goals for your first year in office? How will you accomplish them and/or fund them?

My first goal will be to unify the city. I want to unify the city council, the chamber of commerce, the Alliance, and have everybody on the same page, going in the same direction. Until we get unity and harmony, then we need not go any further.

What are your thoughts on the city's salary plan?

The city has recently done a survey and we have found out that our city employees are working for about 12 percent less than cities comparable to our size. There is in place now raises for the year 2007. It has been approved by the council and is on the budget for 2007. I would like to see us be a model city to where people would come and study us, to where we had the employees of that caliber, being paid a comparable wage.

Do you believe the current lease setup of the city's water and sewer works with City Corp. to be in the best interest for the residents of the city? Why or why not?

With City Corp., if the city of Russellville were running it, City Corp. would be run by politicians. It is a nonprofit corporation and in order for it to operate for the best interests of the citizens of Russellville, it needs to be run by its own board, not by a group of politicians.

Explain your thoughts on annexation of lands adjacent to the city. Provide an example of when annexation of such lands would benefit the city.

I would think that if annexation was done properly, that the majority of people would want to be in the city. When you annex something into the city, you've got to give them police and fire protection, you have got to give them adequate water and sewer, or there's no advantage to these people coming into the city. Annexation is something we need to look at. It's something we are going at some time or another have to do, but let's do it properly.

Are you for or against continuing the 1-cent sales tax when the current one sunsets at the end of 2007? Why or why not? How should the funds from the sales tax be utilized?

I want to see the citizens decide that, and it not be in the hands of the mayor or the city council. The improvements we've had on our streets have been tremendous. I love the way our streets are being done now, but we still have streets in our residential areas that have not been improved on. I want the money to be spent wisely.

Describe your management style, including how you would interact with the council.

I try to live by the rule of four: If I've got four people that disagree with me, I need to sit down and take a look to my idea, and possibly change my idea. You've got to have a council you can work with, and you've got to be a mayor you can work with. Have a good relationship with the council. If you want to be effective, you have to delegate, and not only give them the responsibility but the authority to do their jobs.

Should the fire and police chiefs report and answer to the Civil Service Commission? Why or why not?

The citizens of Russellville choose the mayor and the city council, which chooses the police and fire chief. If they were under the civil service, the civil service would control the police and fire chief. You lose control when they are under civil service. When we put police and fire under the civil service the citizens of Russellville really are the big losers because they're under the control of a government bureaucracy.

What would be your plan to increase city revenues?

The first step is to make it easier to do business in Russellville. We get our money primarily from sales tax, and we need to have more places for people to spend their money.

I will have somebody, a full-time employee, that concentrates on federal grants.

Also, if we get better jobs, that pay good money, so people have more money to spend, the revenues of the city will increase.

What plans do you have for the Parks and Recreation Department?

When you see a thriving city, they have good parks and they have good recreation. It really doesn't cost as much as you might think to make something beautiful. I want to improve our parks and recreation to the point that it will be an asset to our community and something we can be proud of, but I don't want to go overboard with it so that it becomes a detriment to the finances of our city.

What are your thoughts on releasing public information? Will you filter city employee statements through your office, or will you support city employees speaking with media?

In situations such as a catastrophic event, those sorts of things, you've got to squash and eliminate as many rumors as possible. The objective is to get the facts to the media accurately, so that they can report them quickly. Go through chain of command. I want the quality of people within my organization that would report the facts, and not rumors.

Explain your thoughts on the wet/dry county issue. What would you support?

If a restaurant wants to serve alcoholic beverages in their restaurant, all they need to do is apply to the ABC board for a permit, and the majority of those permits are granted. The city council nor the mayor has anything to do with those permits. That is a decision the people need to make.

What kind of issue is this -- is it moral, personal or economic?

The older people of Russellville primarily oppose it being wet. The younger people are more inclined. Society is changing and it is one group versus another group, and it all comes down to who can holler the loudest, the longest.

How would you enable economic development in the city?

Russellville, with proper leadership, is going to grow. The thing the voters need to decide is who is going to handle this growth we're going to have.

Tyrone Williamson's reponses

What would be your priority as mayor when dealing with drugs and crime within the city, prevention or detection and apprehension?

The priority I would have would be getting a committee together, sort of like a Drug Task Force from the people's end of it so we can back up our policeman and let them do their jobs. The main thing is everybody's got something different they want to say on drugs. We know we have a drug problem here, especially methamphetamine, and we need to clean it up. We need to make more people aware of what's going on, therefore attending these drug task force sessions that the sheriff and the police chief have been doing.

How are you more qualified than the professionals and elected officials who are in positions currently leading the city?

I've been working since I was 9 years old. I'm one of 11 kids. My father started a janitorial service in 1953, and started us kids out -- even the girls -- mopping, dusting, whatever. So I have a working history. I'm a people person. I get along with everybody, regardless of race, creed or color. And the way I look at it, if somebody is broke, looks kind of dirty, they have holes in their roof, holes in their clothes, but they're a taxpayer, they still deserve to be listened to. I represent all the people.

Do you feel your police and fire departments are properly manned? If not, how would you fund an increase in personnel?

We have a shortage in the police department, I know for a fact. Because in order to give their people more money, they decided not to have two captains positions filled. They wanted that extra money spread out among the rest of the men.

But I think once we get in office and work together and sit down with the chiefs and the department heads, we'll know what each department needs. But for the police and fire, the morale is down having both chiefs gone. Therefore, when we elect somebody from within the department, the morale will pick back up. Because why work for the police department for 20 years, why have the goal to be a fireman as a little kid to grow up to be chief, then have your city go out of state to find its chief? ...

If the money's out there, we'll find it. One person can't do it all; everybody has to participate in this. Even the citizens need to call in or come to the meetings when we talk about this.

What is your current understanding of city financing and operations?

I had Tyrone Williamson Cleaning Service, a branch of my father's service, since I was 9 years old. I know how to do the books, I know how to do the job, and I know how to clean. It's all about knowing how. I've been working all my life, and everybody knows I've worked three or four jobs at a time. Cleaning, substitute teaching, selling radio ads for River Valley Radio.

As far as the city budget, we have maintained -- over the last two years especially -- we have revenue put back for a rainy day. If you don't put back for a rainy day, you don't know what's going to come up. We might have another Katrina or something like that come up. And where would that extra money be if we didn't put it back?

What are your goals for your first year in office? How will you accomplish them and/or fund them?

My goals would be, the first thing, to surround myself with competent people and find out where we need to go to get to the next level. We need high-paying jobs in the city of Russellville. This is a great place to raise our kids, the crime rate is down because of our good police and fire departments. We have great schools.

We need to also set up a forum of people to work with the schools. Get the kids interested in politics. ... We need to concentrate on the next step up. We need to network. All these car dealerships went to the Delta recently. But we sit in the middle of Little Rock and Fort Smith. This could be the next big town, but we have to seek everything we can.

Also, the mayor hires all the department heads. We need to let the department heads do their jobs and not micro-manage. This is not a dictatorship. If you hire them, you ought to let them do their jobs and just make sure the money matches up.

What are your thoughts on the city's salary plan?

This study [concerning city employee salaries] was done by the Johanson Group. We met several months ago, and they recommended which salaries needed to be increased in which departments, and that we were down with our figures. So now that just needs to be implemented, like you said, at the first of January. But I'd like to say, just because everybody gets a raise this time, doesn't mean if somebody's not doing their jobs, they will get one every year. It's up to the department heads to increase salaries.

Do you believe the current lease setup of the city's water and sewer works with City Corp. to be in the best interest for the residents of the city? Why or why not?

I'm going to have to say yes right off the bat. Because at the time the city had it, the city couldn't make it work. The city wanted to give it away. City Corp. formed a group, even though the city owns it, they formed the group and they made it prosperous. I say, if it's not broke, don't fix it. ... City Corp.'s doing a good job. I just think every once in a while they need to put some blue-collar workers on their board. ... And the mayor and aldermen need to be voting members. We're on the board right now, but we don't have a vote. The city owns it, but somebody else runs it. I think we need a voice in it.

Explain your thoughts on annexation of lands adjacent to the city. Provide an example of when annexation of such lands would benefit the city.

A lot of people I've talked to about annexation who have been annexed into the city -- up on Skyline, behind Southgate -- they've been annexed into the city for what, 12- 13 years, if not longer? But they are still on septic tanks, and have no water. They have to pay to have their water put in. If we're going to bring them in, then they need to be able to hook up to the water. But they are required to pay a tremendous amount to put the line in and put the sewer in. So what are we giving the people for their money?

I've been annexed into the city for five years and the city hasn't even paved my road. Why would they want to be in our community if we're not going to give them any benefits?

Are you for or against continuing the 1-cent sales tax when the current one sunsets at the end of 2007? Why or why not? How should the funds from the sale tax be utilized?

The people have seen what we've done so far with the 1-cent sales tax. One-eighth of it went for economic development. The other part went for streets and drainage. We opened up Vancouver, we opened up new roads all over town.

So am I for it? Only thing I can say is take it to the people. Yes, I would vote for it. But I'm just one vote. But before we do anything, we need to take it to the voters.

But the biggest thing would be to get another byway across Phoenix, which is already on the master street plan. When we open that road up, we'll have another artery to go where we won't have a train delay and it would help traffic flow.

Russellville is busy, and we need to rearrange the big trucks going through the middle of town, they just don't use their route. We need to have a special route like you see in other cities. A bypass is what we need. But you've got to have the support of the voters.

Describe your management style, including how you would interact with the council.

I put God first and pray about everything before I vote on it. Then when I go home I can sleep at night because I know I voted for what's best for Russellville and not what's best for Tyrone Williamson.

You have to trust your department heads. You have to draw from everybody. You have to delegate authority to people who are willing to serve, not who you have to beg to serve.

Should the fire and police chiefs report and answer to the Civil Service Commission? Why or why not?

In my whole 16 years on the council, I've always said they should report to the Civil Service Commission. You have three or four people instead of one. Because if you make somebody mad, that puts pressure on the chiefs or that officer who gives you a ticket. Therefore, if three or four people are over them, then you don't have to worry about that. It's OK for them to report to you as mayor; you are over them. But to keep your thumb on them, you're not letting them do their jobs.

What would be your plan to increase city revenues?

I've said it before. We need better paying jobs, we need to get more grants, and all of that. If the money's out there, I think if we can work with our sister cities to see how they do it, then we can get better paying jobs. But we have to search.

What plans do you have for the Parks and Recreation Department?

Bringing more events to Russellville. I think Mack Hollis has been doing a great job. But now with the A&P Commission bringing in these ESPN tournaments in and now the ladies bass tournament in, I think that's a good start. Because when we bring them in, they're coming in from all over the United States, and they're spending their money in our city -- staying in our motels and eating in our restaurants. We need to get as much as we can get.

Also, the soccer fields we have, the softball tournaments; we have to go after every nickel.

We also need something like the Jones Community Center in Fayetteville. We've just got to find the money.

What are your thoughts on releasing public information? Will you filter city employee statements through your office or will you support city employees speaking with media?

I'm sure they'd call the mayor first, then we'd be there for the information being released. Why hide it? The people want to be informed. The police and fire chiefs need public information officers. We won't hide anything, I guarantee it.

Explain your thoughts on the wet/dry county issue. What would you support?

Red Lobster has been trying to come to this town for the last four or five years. My thought on that is, my wife and son love seafood. So why should I have to go to Little Rock and spend money in another town when we could have Red Lobster right here? They say, "Well, they want a liquor license." Our job is to take it before the voters. The voters vote on it, the council carries out the wishes of the people, and the mayor's job is to carry out the wishes of the council. We don't control that. Let's get it on the ballot, and get it before the people.

I'm a preacher; I don't drink. But I say, if somebody smokes cigarettes, and they get up to $10 a pack, those people are still going to buy cigarettes. An alcoholic is still going to find his drink -- no matter what.

What kind of issue is this -- is it a moral, personal or economic?

We are in the Bible Belt, but we have so many working people who love seafood and don't want to have to go to Little Rock to get it. So why should all that money leave Pope County instead of coming here? I see it as money coming in. They make their money off of the drinks, not the food, and they want to come here.

And if the city or the county had one liquor store, served the alcohol hot where people could take it home and not cause DWIs on the streets, then that's tax money here.

How would you enable economic development in the city?

By working closely with the Chamber of Commerce and Jeff Pipkin. We need to seek more ways to get new businesses in. We need to work together and be united.